JERUSALEM: More than 200 Israeli settlers on Thursday stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem

Anadolu Agency reported that the Islamic Endowment Department in Jerusalem said in a statement that 215 settlers guarded by Israeli police raided Haram al-Sharif from the Al-Maqaribe (Moroccans) Gate, southwest of the mosque.

The settlers left the area after wandering around the courtyards of the mosque.

Israeli police began allowing the settler incursions in 2003, despite repeated condemnations by the Islamic Endowment Department in Jerusalem.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world's third-holiest site for Muslims.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, in a move never recognised by the international community.

-- BERNAMA